# Alligator meat, anybody had any?



## Nely (Nov 11, 2004)

I'm fascinated with this meat, I was dying to try it and when I finally did, it was fantastic. It was served like a steak, with lots of onions and seasoning, the texture is fantastic, a little firmer than beef but with a great flavor, and no it does not taste like chicken! It has its own taste. If you haven't had it i say give it a try! Anyone else wanna share their experience?


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## The Prince (Apr 9, 2005)

Nely said:


> I'm fascinated with this meat, I was dying to try it and when I finally did, it was fantastic. It was served like a steak, with lots of onions and seasoning, the texture is fantastic, a little firmer than beef but with a great flavor, and no it does not taste like chicken! It has its own taste. If you haven't had it i say give it a try! Anyone else wanna share their experience?


Alligator Is fabulous. We have a Cajun place here that fries It, similar to chicken fingers. Alligator Is a very lean and dense meat. I would eat It more often If I could. Great stuff.


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## One Lonely Smoker (Jan 21, 2005)

As you can guess, I've had my share of tail meat, but I always found it a little fishy for my tastes. That's like complaining that it DOESN"T taste like chicken. I guess to me it's a cross between chicken, tuna and beef. I don't mind it fried or smothered in a red sauce with onions and garlic, but I won't pay a premium for it, for sure. I grew up eating it a few times a year at the alligator festival and then 6 months later cleaning out the fridge.


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## Jeff (Jan 2, 2005)

Gator meat is very tasty. Had it a few times on a trip down south. The way they incorporate it into canjun/creole cooking is fantastic.


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## t'kay (Jan 30, 2005)

I really like alligator in quesadillas, or gumbo, mm yummy yummy!


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## horrorview (Jan 27, 2005)

I tried gator at a ski resort, of all places, about ten years ago. It was presented on the menu as "Gator Bites" and they were the size of chicken nuggets. I liked it a lot, but never came across is again until three years ago, when a "New Orleans" style eatery popped up at my city's annual festival. They served huge chunks, deep-fried on a stick. They've come back the last three years, and each year I dutifully stand in line and grab my 'gator-on-a-stick and a heapin' bowl of seafood gumbo. 

Mmmmmm...mmmmmmmm...thems some good eats, I'll tell ya what!


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## GOAT LOCKER (Aug 7, 2004)

I had gator a couple times in New Orleans. Tasted pretty good. Sort of a fishy, buttery tasting chicken. I would definately eat it again.


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## Ninja Vanish (Apr 7, 2005)

The best gator meat I had was in New Orleans once...they had it in gumbo. To me, that seems like the most fitting way to serve it...cajun style.


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## MiamiE (Mar 5, 2005)

i like mine fried with some spicy orange sauce. when would you like to go hunting?


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## refill (Feb 22, 2005)

Fantastic stuff and living in florida in is kind of a staple around here


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## LiteHedded (Apr 10, 2005)

I'm not a big fan
too chewy for me


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## Scott M (Jan 4, 2005)

Found it to have a generic "meat, protien" taste. Alot like snake, only less bones. 

I gotta start eating where ya'll do. 


Scott"ifit'snotmoving(much),I'mgame"M


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## jgrimball (Mar 17, 2005)

Ninja Vanish said:


> The best gator meat I had was in New Orleans once...they had it in gumbo. To me, that seems like the most fitting way to serve it...cajun style.


Being from Cajun Country, gator gumbo isnt the best way to have it. It is a tough and chewy meat but its good and best fried.


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## icehog3 (Feb 20, 2005)

The best gator meat I've had was back in 1982 from a gator my FLA native buddy Phillip and I caught and prepared ourselves...I can say that because the Statute of Limitations on that crime has long since passed.

There is a restaurant on Sanibel Island off the coast of Ft. Myers called (I think) Mr. T's, that serves some awesome cajun style gator tail...I drop in there each time I hit FLA.


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## Nely (Nov 11, 2004)

MiamiE said:


> i like mine fried with some spicy orange sauce. when would you like to go hunting?


 :r you couldn't pay me enough money to go near an alligator! :z


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## partagaspete (Apr 27, 2004)

I did not care for it when I tried it. it was very gamie tasting.

Odd meats I've tried and liked

Bisteca De Cavella (Thats right kids...horse)
Ostrich (The bird that eats like a steak)
Kangaroo ( no; it does not tast just like chicken)

T


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## D. Generate (Jul 1, 2004)

Alligators and I have an understanding. I won't eat them if they won't eat me. So far it's been working out.


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## icehog3 (Feb 20, 2005)

D. Generate said:


> Alligators and I have an understanding. I won't eat them if they won't eat me. So far it's been working out.


:r Glad that's working out for ya Dale!!


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## SlimDiesel (Apr 13, 2005)

D. Generate said:


> Alligators and I have an understanding. I won't eat them if they won't eat me. So far it's been working out.


See my point of view is eat it before it eats me. Workin out good for me too. Fried gator is good and tasty but I had it once with a kind of creole sauce on it with cajun shrimp and crawdads. The frogleg appetizer was good too. I like to try it all gator, froglegs, rattlesnake, ostrich, buffalo, deer, quail, squirrel and the list goes on.


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## icehog3 (Feb 20, 2005)

SlimDiesel said:


> See my point of view is eat it before it eats me. Workin out good for me too. Fried gator is good and tasty but I had it once with a kind of creole sauce on it with cajun shrimp and crawdads. The frogleg appetizer was good too. I like to try it all gator, froglegs, rattlesnake, ostrich, buffalo, deer, quail, squirrel and the list goes on.


Had any of them Rocky Mountain Oysters yet? u


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## LeafHog (Feb 11, 2004)

I've got a recipe for possum chile if anybody's interested. u 


I have had gator fried, in gumbo, in stew, in pasta, grilled..... its OK. I liked it in the gumbo and in the pasta when it was more of a filler than a main course.

You boys just gotta try some bear meat, though. That's good eatin'.


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## MiamiE (Mar 5, 2005)

Nely said:


> :r you couldn't pay me enough money to go near an alligator! :z


its actually pretty fun. just you and 2-3 buddies in an airboat. pitch black with a harpoon (firearms are not allowed) and a spotlight. spot the tiny shining beads (eyes) follow right up watch where he goes down to the bottom and stick em. then hold on tight. theres tens of millions in Florida now so i have no problem taking one a year. deer or bear in florida i dont agree with hunting for. i went once last year with a friend who has the $300 liscense. it was pretty creepy out there.


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## Jeff (Jan 2, 2005)

MiamiE said:


> its actually pretty fun. just you and 2-3 buddies in an airboat. pitch black with a harpoon (firearms are not allowed) and a spotlight.


I went on one of those swamp tours they have in Louisiana and they used _marshmellows_ of all things to bait the gators.


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## 5thDan (Mar 15, 2005)

Had gator a couple times in Gatlinburg TN. It was kind of like chicken nuggets breaded and deep fried. Had sort of a fishy chicken taste.  

:u


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## Nely (Nov 11, 2004)

MiamiE said:


> its actually pretty fun. just you and 2-3 buddies in an airboat. pitch black with a harpoon (firearms are not allowed) and a spotlight. spot the tiny shining beads (eyes) follow right up watch where he goes down to the bottom and stick em. then hold on tight. theres tens of millions in Florida now so i have no problem taking one a year. deer or bear in florida i dont agree with hunting for. i went once last year with a friend who has the $300 liscense. it was pretty creepy out there.


You don't understand bro', I have this irrational fear of alligators. That's another reason why I eat them


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## D. Generate (Jul 1, 2004)

Nely said:


> You don't understand bro', I have this irrational fear of alligators. That's another reason why I eat them


See, I think having a fear of alligators is perfectly rational. They can eat you, that seems like a pretty solid foundation for fear to me.


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## SlimDiesel (Apr 13, 2005)

icehog3 said:


> Had any of them Rocky Mountain Oysters yet?


Got kind of a nutty flavor to them, wouldn't you say? I still haven't figured out what the hell they're doin in Colorado eating a bull's cajones.


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

icehog3 said:


> Had any of them Rocky Mountain Oysters yet? u


I tried lamb fries once at a Bachelor party... it was at a VERY expensive restaurant and they sure got a laugh when those babies were passed around but it was pretty much a dare situation... so you know...

And get this,,,, I wasn't drinking!

Truth be known... they were pretty good, but then again you add enough butter and garlic to almost anything and it gets good


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## Nely (Nov 11, 2004)

SlimDiesel said:


> See my point of view is eat it before it eats me. Workin out good for me too.


That's my philosophy too LOL. Hopefully I'll get to eat enough to do some type of damage to the everglade's population


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## radar (Dec 31, 1999)

I have it 3 or 4 times a year, usually beaten to tenderness and battered and fried. Goes great with swamp cabbage.


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## Guest (May 24, 2005)

Had Alligator meat several years ago in a restuarant in New Oleans. Found it to be tough, but was probably due to poor preparation. Have had a wide variety of wild game, and I find that most of the time the ones that are not appealing are due to a belief that it has to be cooked until crunchy (the cooks must be kin to my mother-in-law).

I would not hesitate to try alligator again, just need to find right cook!


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## Funnymantrip (Oct 28, 2004)

All self respecting Seminoles eat Gator at least once a year. The best I have had is when you make a 'conch salad' using gator instead of conch. Basically pound out the gator tail. cut it into small cubes. Salt and pepper them. Add them to a bowl with green pepper, celery, onion, red pepper and tobasco. Add some lemon/lime juice and just a few drops of orange juice. 2 drops of olive oil and let it sit. The acid will cook the gator and the flavors will meld. 

This is so good.


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

had some the summer of '03, and the first time way back in '92 (both times, down at ft. polk, la).

to me, tastes like chicken. <- not joking.


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## bulldawg (Jan 22, 2005)

It's best blackened. The best time to eat it is October in Jacksonville.


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## Thurm15 (Jan 28, 2005)

Yep bulldawg IMO Gator cooked Blackened is best. I was stationed in Louisiana a few years back and loved it blackened and it was pretty good on a stick. Love them Mudbugs too!


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## BigVito (Jan 1, 2000)

Wow, of all the gAtors did anybody save the skin?


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## radar (Dec 31, 1999)

Thurm15 said:


> Love them Mudbugs too!


What's a mudbug?


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## galaga (Sep 18, 2003)

radar said:


> What's a mudbug?


A crawfish or crayfish as some people say. Snap they little heads off and suckemupbrudda.


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## radar (Dec 31, 1999)

galaga said:


> A crawfish or crayfish as some people say. Snap they little heads off and suckemupbrudda.


Had plenty of Crawdads, never heard em' called mudbugs!


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## BigVito (Jan 1, 2000)

snapping heads off sounds fun, but I have trouble with the sucking part


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## par (May 22, 2005)

partagaspete said:


> I did not care for it when I tried it. it was very gamie tasting.
> 
> Odd meats I've tried and liked
> 
> ...


I've done all those meats. I like smoked horse meat, very taste especially as cold cuts.

Done the marinated gator tail (also done crocodile). Didn't really like it.

Tried Kudu and other antilopes in africa (tastes a bit like wild game, like deer). Very taste, especially BBQ'd.


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